I have this strange affinity
to Batam.
The Dreamers
and
The Losers.
The down and out,
who have to make it here
because
they could not make it
anywhere else.
Living in Batam,
at the edge of the glitz
of Singapore
city life,
The Underdog peers stealthily
like a voyeur
as rich Ah Beng
takes his Kampung Sweetheart
and screws her
for $40 a weekend.
He could only salivate
at the seafood
Ahmad and Bhai
gorge themselves,
saying so cheap, so cheap.
He dreams
of making it there
somehow,
someday.
In the meantime,
the downtrodden,
the ojek bums,
the taxi hustlers,
the happy hookers,
live Life
at the edge of the City,
or at the edge
of Life itself.
Yet,
beneath the city,
in the squalor
of a squatter's existence,
two hearts beat,
love is found,
love is lost.
As the wretched stench
of poor sanitation pervades
malaria ridden mosquitoes,
irregular filthy water
and electric supply.
Yet the roar of diesel engines
go on
through the night,
to the insistent beat
of danduk techno disco,
heads sway to the throb
of home made ecstacy drugs,
the island of dreamers
and losers,
roll on
to yank of
the One Eyed Bandit.
